I'm an idiot

[silverski]

Went out for a night capper last night. Get in the water to board with the wife driving and she can't get the boat started. 05 with a carb engine that has bugged me since I got it that I didn't get EFI. Try to start it and if fires but quits. Smells of gas and I was convinced that it was massively flooded. Let it sit for 15 minutes while the kids swim. Try again, no luck. Open the top of the carb no visible gas. Starting to get dark so I swim out to an anchored boat to ask for a tow. Grab a tow line that was on the floor by the throttle and the safety tether comes out with the rope. Told the kind folks that were going to give us a tow to hold on a second and sure enough, put the safety cord back in and it started right up.

Given that I have been around boats for most of my 34 years and think I know everything about troubleshooting a problem, I was pretty embarrased. I've seen the rookies out on the water and shake my head saying that they have no business at the ramp much less on the water. This experience knocked me down a few notches. Sometimes, your expericence makes you forget the obvious.

Translation: Boat won't start = make sure the safety switch is in place.

The only good news is at least I didn't spend the 45 minutes it would have taken to get a tow, the hour in the driveway, the hour trip to the dealer and the week wait to get call from the dealer to say "You are an Idiot"

[gotmyboat]

My 2005 Outback DD does. It stays wrapped around the throttle.

Dave

[zabooda]

If I had a kill switch, I would have it wrapped up and by-passed on the backside. I've heard some bad things about a failed switch in the middle of nowhere.

[gotmyboat]

I am going to replace the plastic u-clip attached to the tether with a stainless e-clip so that I don't have to worry about it anymore.

Dave

[smokedog2]

Had a friend nearly run over by a waverunner with a disabled kill switch. I wear them when running alone.

[gotmyboat]

SD2,

You wear them in your boat? I can't imagine what I could possibly do to be ejected from my seat. I have done some pretty aggressive tube pulling, with some wicked turns, and have never even shifted in my seat.
I do agree about the PWC safety leash. Those are designed to throw you off if you get crazy, though a runaway PWC should only be moving at idle.

Dave

[BensonWdby]

I had one in my outboard and always wore it. My 99 Mobius does not have one. Admittedly the inboard ski boats are not prone to tossing a driver, if they are in the seat properly. If you are prone to sitting on the back of the seat that is different.

If I had one in boat I would insist that any driver in my boat use it, regardless of how many people are in the boat.

Examples of non-ejection cases where one would come in handy.
1. Drivers seat comes disconnected from floor. This acutally happened in my outboard. The driver was not wearing the leash and this ended up putting my kids in danger while he scrambled to get back in control while I was skiing.
2. Driver does something stupid like try to step away from the wheel temporarily.
3. Teaching young kids how to kill the boat in the case where you don't have the leash on and they find themselves suddenly without a driver (health issue or an ejection). Yes you could show them how to use the key, but yanking on the leash is easier to remember.

I know one person who was killed due to an ejection and one person who was seriously injured. Both involved outboards, but I don't see the decreased likelihood of it happening on an inboard as justifcation to not use it.

I see it like insurance. You don't expect to ever need it, but the one time you do it pays for itself in gold. If not for your own safety, then those around you.

If I had one in my boat, I would wear it.

Dave

[smokedog2]

ditto the kids and we practice it.

How often are you messing with the board racks or bimini under power in a no wake or other follishness? You cannot do that with a leash and it makes you think.

[carsondoc]

I read about one in my users manual way back when, but I never saw one on my boat. Was I supposed to get one? I bought my boat in '03.

[JesseC]

I added one to my 02 LSV last summer. I wired it so that it has male and female connections. If for some reason the switch were to fail and the boat will not start, I simly crawl under the dash and hook the original wire back to the dash and the switch is then bypassed. I did this so I could disable this ONLY in the case where the boat wouldn't start due to switch failure. You never know what could happen! Hitting stumps, boulders or sand bars are never "planned for". I would suggest adding a safety switch, but adding it in a way where it can be bypassed easily. I hooked mine into the ignition switch and I can bypass it in less than 30 seconds!

[smokedog2]

Ok, has anyone has a kill switch fail so the boat would not start?

Ever heard of it?

I haven't, I have had more than a few other things fail in the last 20 years, but not that.

SD2

[zabooda]

Someone I knew had a MC some years ago that had the plastic retainer clip break and shut his engine down.